Into the flow
by Natsu chan
Summary: One shot of Robin's arrival in Tokyo. From the air to Raven's flat. Please r and r.


Disclaimer: I don't own WHR. All the usual disclaimers apply.

Author's notes: While this isn't my first fic, it _is_ my first foray into the WHR fandom. It is just a small one shot leading up to Robin's arrival at Raven's flat for the first time. I'm not quite sure how good of a job I've done, as this is the first thing I've written in a few months, but hopefully it's not too painful or OOC. Please read and review.

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The soft clink of glasses and the low buzz of the plane's intercom system brought her out of a light doze. She'd been dreaming about waxing the church floor elbow to elbow with Sister Marget. Robin shifted in her seat easing muscles that had gone numb during the long flight and sat up in her seat. One small slim hand reached up to push her fair hair out of her eyes as she leaned forward to peer through the window. A steady kaleidoscope of pale grey clouds diffused with the pale early morning light rippled past the small rectangle of glass as the plane began it's decent.

Tokyo appeared through a haze of clouds, it was not the Tokyo she had imagined. Tall spears of glass and concrete poked up from a surrounding ocean of grey concrete and glittered in the morning light. In the background, the pilot's voice announced their impending arrival in Japanese then Italian in business-like tones. Then the plane slipped free of the cloudbank leaving Tokyo spread out before her. A ribbon of deep, deep blue encompassed by a seemingly endless expanse of glass and concrete, so different from Rome and the warm embracing hills of Tuscany. She lent back in her seat seeing the steady rolling hills that spread out around the old stone convent walls like a rumpled quilt. She didn't remember Japan. It was simply a word on her birth certificate. For as long as she could remember the thick ancient walls of the convent had been her home, and now as the plane lowered itself to the airport runway she began to feel a little apprehensive. All she had to focus on was the task ahead and the unknown partner she had yet to meet. Amon. Looking away from the window, she folded her hands into her lap bracing herself for the jolt as the plane touched down onto the runway.

Immigration wasn't a problem. The neat plastic coated Solomon ID saw to that and she slipped through with only the faintest of raised eyebrows. There was no one to collect her. Her deep green eyes scanned the crowd searching for someone who fitted the description of the man who was going to be her partner. All she new about him was his name Amon, his age 25, and a somewhat vague description. He was, according to Father Juliano, tall, well built and a little pale with longish black hair and dark grey eyes. Being a hunter, he was of course quite fit and there was also his reputation, which had not come via her caretaker but from whispered conversations around Solomon's Rome head quarters. He wore a lot of black too apparently, but even after another search, she could see no one who matched his description. At this hour, the airport seemed to be mostly populated by middle-aged businessmen with an accompanying middle-aged spread. She sighed, a tiny gust of air, it was the earlier flight she was sure of it. Inwardly she debated a little exploration before finding a taxi to take her to the address on the small cream card stowed in her coat pocket, along with a small fold of yen. She hesitated for a moment caught between good sense and curiosity. Curiosity won.

Outside the pale light forced its way sluggishly through a band of pale smoky grey cloud and a cold breeze slapped her long dress and coat around her legs searching for a way in. She lifted her small leather suitcase. The one from the convent, the one that was 50 years out of date and made her look even _more_ like a little convent girl and stepped out into the street. Her feet touched the strip of concrete outside the airport lounge. She aspired to look confident and assured but inside she was uncertain and just a little afraid. Tokyo seemed to bear down on her and surround her in a tight airless embrace. Still she wasn't going to allow that to prevent her little side trip.

She stepped out down the street a little over-awed by the tall buildings and the lack of space but after awhile she decided that Tokyo wasn't so bad once you got out into it, though her head reeled as she gazed around her. There was just so much to look at! Tall buildings built of nothing but glass and cement and people, people everywhere moving in an endless tide. She'd thought Rome was terribly crowded, but Tokyo was another experience all together. Her senses soaked up their surroundings almost greedily. She walked along steadily, pausing to walk along a length of concrete curb as if it were a balance beam. Everyone around her wore western clothing and it was she who stood out amongst them in her strange long black dress with its high neck and heavy skirt. Curious she gazed in a shop front window at a display of embroidered silk and brightly coloured kimonos marvelling at the bright fabric and the delicate embroidery. She whisked her way through the crowds past a noodle stand and across a road feeling more confident with every breath. A little gaiety came into her step and her eyes shone looking everywhere at once. Peering into a restaurant window at a tank packed with eels she felt the air go cold as the sun gave up its battle with the clouds above. She gripped her suitcase a little more firmly and decided it was about time that she presented herself at STN-J.

In the taxi, she fingered the cream address card and tried to remember everything she knew about the Japanese branch of Solomon. She pushed the real purpose of her mission to the back of her mind and focused on the meeting ahead wondering exactly what her new partner would be like. Being paired with Japans top hunter was both flattering and daunting though she suspected that Father Juliano had had more than a little to do with it. She hoped she lived up to his expectations. Her eyes followed the scenery outside the window as the taxi weaved its way down a seemingly endless maze of side streets. It slipped past a park, full of tree the deciduous ones mere skeletons bare of leaves, while the pines grew tall and dark and twisted by the wind like something out of a woodcarving. The taxi swept around another corner and slid to a halt beside a tall grey concrete and wrought iron fence.

The small brass sign screwed into the gatepost left Robin in no doubt, this was Raven's flat but it was nothing like what she'd expected. Raven's flat was an old tall grey brick mansion not a neat modern office block. Just as surprisingly it was clearly European, even the fence exuded a sort of morose European air as if the builder had been so homesick as to transplant a part of his homeland into this foreign world. The logical part of her mind pointed out that Raven's flat was obviously one of the buildings built at the beginning of the Meiji era but it still spoke to the more fanciful part of her mind. She stood on the footpath for a moment staring up at the grey building, a thin girl with vivid green eyes and fair hair surrounded by and ocean of black and grey standing on the edge of an abyss.

(2005)


End file.
